Mayor Michael A. Nutter signed an Executive Order initiating requirements for city contracts that, going forward, will mandate that city contractors provide a minimum wage of $12/hour beginning January 1, 2015. The Executive Order also requires that contractors meet that same minimum wage standard for their first-tier subcontractors for the first time in City history. The requirement will raise first-tier subcontractors’ pay to $10.88/hour beginning with contracts sought two weeks from today, and then $12/hour beginning January 1, 2015.

“No person who works on City contract should live in poverty. We must create ladders of opportunity, we must give America a raise,” said Mayor Nutter. “President Obama presented the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2013, but Congress wouldn’t be swayed by the 35 million hardworking Americans living below the poverty line or without a living wage. So the President took action by signing an Executive Order requiring federal contractors pay their employees a fair wage and called on governors and mayors to do what they could to implement change. I wholeheartedly support the President’s push for an increase to the federal minimum wage and today, I am answering his call to do what I can to support hardworking Philadelphians. While I still hope that there will be movement at the federal level on the minimum wage, I couldn’t wait. I had to take action, as I have done many times before, and protect the interests of our most vulnerable citizens.”

Councilman W. Wilson Goode, Jr. joined Mayor Nutter to witness the signing, and Mayor Nutter thanked him for his leadership, noting that the Councilman has been a champion of living wage issues in the city for years. “In addition to the Minimum Wage Standard, Councilman Goode also campaigned for health benefits for City contract workers, which was passed and signed into law in 2008. Councilman Goode has also led the way on a Philadelphia Charter Amendment to make legislation providing for minimum wage levels and benefits for subcontractors. This Amendment, which the Administration supports, will be a ballot question this May. I urge Philadelphians to vote ‘yes’”.

Councilman Goode said, “As a lawmaker from a family of sharecroppers, I’m glad to stand with the Mayor as he issues this Executive Order. I look forward to soon crafting a new law that will raise our City’s wage standard permanently.”